Applicant Guidance

General Practice ST1

Round 1 & Round 1 Re-advert

August 2018

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Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4

2. Submitting an Application ...................................................................................... 5

3. Communications Regarding an Application ......................................................... 5

4. Selecting a Region (Preferencing) .......................................................................... 5

4.1 Targeted Enhancement Recruitment Scheme (TERS) ....................................................................................... 6

5. Flexibility in Deployment of Trainees (Great Britain only) .................................. 6

5.1 Special Circumstances .................................................................................................................................................. 6

5.2 Facilitated Placements .................................................................................................................................................. 7

5.3 Step On, Step Off (SST) Policy ................................................................................................................................... 8

6. Adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 ............................................................. 8

7. Application process for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) without

Right of Residence ........................................................................................................ 8

7.1 Tier 4 Visa Applicants .................................................................................................................................................... 9

8. Evidence of English Language Skills ....................................................................... 9

8.1 Evidence of Communication Skills for Medical Performers’ List .................................................................. 9

9. Evidence of Foundation Competences ................................................................... 9

10. Fitness to Practise ................................................................................................. 11

11. Accreditation of Transferable Competences Framework (ATCF) ................... 11

12. Reapplication to Specialty Training ................................................................... 12

12.1 Support for Reapplication to Specialty ............................................................................................................. 12

12.2 Support for Reapplication to Specialty Training in a Different Region ................................................ 12

13. Document Upload ................................................................................................ 13

14. Longlisting – Eligibility Requirements ............................................................... 13

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15. Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA) ........................................... 13

16. Direct Pathway to Offers ..................................................................................... 14

17. Invitation to Selection Centre ............................................................................. 14

17.1 Booking a Selection Centre .................................................................................................................................... 14

17.2 Confirmation of booking......................................................................................................................................... 14

18. Selection Centre .................................................................................................... 15

18.1 Dress Code .................................................................................................................................................................... 15

18.2 Selection Centre Format .......................................................................................................................................... 16

18.2.1 Simulation Exercises .................................................................................................................... 16

18.2.2 Written Exercise ........................................................................................................................... 16

18.3 Preparation Hints ....................................................................................................................................................... 17

19. Outcome following Selection Centre ................................................................. 17

19.1 Composition of Final Result ................................................................................................................................... 17

19.2 Appealing the Outcome .......................................................................................................................................... 18

20. Offers ..................................................................................................................... 18

21. Upgrading Offers .................................................................................................. 19

21.1 Offer Exchanges/Enhanced Preferences ..................................................................................................... 20

22. References ............................................................................................................. 21

22.1 Reference Requests ................................................................................................................................................... 21

22.2 Completing a Reference .......................................................................................................................................... 21

22.3 Changing Your Nominated Referee ................................................................................................................... 21

23. Further Preferencing within Offered Training Programme ............................ 21

23.1 Allocation of Trainees within Local Training Programmes ........................................................................ 22

24. Clearing .................................................................................................................. 22

25. Feedback ................................................................................................................ 22

26. Offers of Employment & Pre-Employment Checks .......................................... 23

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27. Applicant Interview Expenses ............................................................................. 23

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1. Introduction

The General Practice National Recruitment Office (GPNRO) co-ordinates the nationally

agreed and quality assured process for recruitment to General Practice (GP) Specialty

Training (ST1) Programmes.

Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACF) and Global Health Fellowships routes are also available

in GP training however these are independent from the national process and are recruited to

locally by individual HEE Local Offices and Deaneries (henceforth referred to as region or

regions). Therefore, this guidance deals only with the ST1 Programme.

Recruitment to GP Specialty Training will take place three times a year, twice for August 2018

commencement and once for February 2019 commencement. Round 1 and Round 1 Re-

advert cover August 2018 commencement; Round 2 covers February 2019 commencement.

This guide relates to posts commencing in August 2018.

All submitted applications for GP Specialty Training will be assessed using a standard,

national and consistent staged process outlined below. This is an established and well-

researched selection process using modern methodologies that are fair, robust and fit for

purpose. The competency based selection process allows applicants to demonstrate their

abilities and suitability for GP training - applications are assessed by the demonstration of

competences as outlined in the GP ST1 Person Specification (2018).

Applicants are reminded that entry to GP Specialty Training is highly competitive.

Information about competition ratios in previous rounds and the number of available

vacancies in each region are available on the GPNRO website.

For a GP Specialty Training post an applicant will make one application for all participating

regions. The short-listing method, known as the Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment

(MSRA), involves undertaking a computer based assessment. Following the MSRA, eligible

applicants will be invited to book a place at a Selection Centre of their choice, subject to

availability. Applicants will be considered for appointment across the whole of the UK (based

on their performance and rank). This method is known as Single Transferable Score (STS) as

applicants are not restricted to being considered for appointment in a single specific region.

The STS system is designed to maximise opportunities for successful appointment.

Applicants should only preference programmes in regions they are willing to work in. In

making those decisions, researching regions carefully is recommended.

There have been some significant changes to the recruitment process in recent years so you

are advised to read all the following information before you commence the on-line

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application form. This will enable you to familiarise yourself with the GP assessment and

selection process and the essential entry requirements. You should also refer to both the

Oriel Applicant User Guide (for general guidance on how to navigate Oriel and technical help

with the on-line application form) and the 2018 Medical Specialty Recruitment Applicant

Handbook (for general information about the administration of national recruitment

processes).

2. Submitting an Application

All applications must be made via the on-line Oriel system. Late applications will NOT be

considered. The dates and deadlines relating to 2018/19 recruitment activity are available on

the GPNRO website.

The GP application form will only ask for factual information about you and your

employment history. Once your application has been submitted you are unable to make any

changes, apart from to update your own contact and referee details so please ensure that

you do not submit unless it is complete.

Please be aware that the Oriel system does not support internet browsers that have

reached the end of their product support lifecycle.

3. Communications Regarding an Application

Contact regarding your GP application will be via direct messaging through Oriel. GP

administrators will also send an email as a secondary form of communication. However, as

emails are external to Oriel, delivery cannot be guaranteed and therefore this method of

communication should not be relied upon.

You should also make sure that you are using an email account that you can access at any

time and will not be blocked by your employer’s IT security system. If you are uncertain

about this, you should check with your IT department at work.

To ensure messages from the GPNRO are not filtered by your email provider’s junk / spam

filters, you are strongly advised to add gpnro@hee.nhs.uk and noreply@oriel.nhs.uk to your

email whitelist.

4. Selecting a Region (Preferencing)

Applicants are allowed to submit ONE application, per Round, for a standard GP training

programme. In 2018, at the time of application, you will be asked to indicate your

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preferences from all GP Training Programmes available in the UK, in rank order; this means

that you can be considered for appointment across the whole of the UK. Please only

preference the programmes that you would be prepared to work in, including those listed

with zero vacancies as posts may become available at a later date. GP Training Programmes

are available at ST1 entry level only and are for 3 years duration however, Scotland also offer

some 4-year programmes. This information will be shown in the preference detail.

Applicants are also advised to read the regions’ profile pages and access individual region

websites for more information about the opportunities available. We suggest that you

research not only the types of programmes offered in each region but also the geography of

each region, the main Trusts within the geography, transport links to home and so on.

The ability to record your preferences will be locked at point of application submission

however you will be presented with a further window to continue preferencing; this window

will span from the date of invitation to the Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment until 48

hours before the first offers date; these dates are published on the GPNRO website for all

relevant rounds.

The GP Training Programmes that you preference in your application will be used to make

you an offer, subject to the successful completion of the selection process.

4.1 Targeted Enhancement Recruitment Scheme (TERS)

This scheme is an initiative that will offer total payments of £20,000 to GP trainees

committed to working in a select number of training places in England, Scotland and Wales

that have been hard to recruit to for the past three years. These areas often have an

extremely good track record for education, but are initially less popular simply because of

their geographical location. However, those trainees that do choose to train there usually

stay after training. For more information please visit GPNRO website.

5. Flexibility in Deployment of Trainees (Great Britain only)

In 2017, England, Scotland and Wales introduced formalised processes to better assist

applicants with training in their desired locations of the country.

5.1 Special Circumstances

To ensure that applicants with special circumstances and a requirement to train in a

particular location are treated in a fair and consistent way, those applicants wishing to be

considered for special circumstances pre-allocation should ensure that they state this on

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their application form. Requests for consideration of special circumstances received in any

other way will not be accepted.

Applicants wishing to be considered for special circumstances should complete the special

circumstances application form (available from https://www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/ResourceBank)

and forward this, together with the following supporting evidence by email to

mdrs.nationalrecruitment@hee.nhs.uk as soon as their application has been submitted

electronically

It is important that you review the relevant section in the 2018 Medical Specialty Recruitment

Applicant Handbook for full details on the eligibility criteria and administrative process.

5.2 Facilitated Placements

This process aims to offer solutions to applicants who have been allocated to different

regions to their partner or family.

The process is open to all applicants, except for those who applied to academic posts, locally

recruited posts or those looking to move into or out of Northern Ireland, who are not

participating in the initiative. Applicants are only eligible for one facilitated placement per

recruitment year.

Note: Applicants deferring their commencement in training will not be permitted to

apply for a facilitated placement.

Applicants who accept a post, but would like to try and swap this for another post should

contact GPNRO as soon as possible. Whilst the swap cannot be guaranteed, recruiters will try

and accommodate this, where possible. Applicants who would be happy for either their post

or their partner’s post to be swapped should contact GPNRO and the other lead recruiter

independently. You need to ensure that you mention your partner and the specialty that they

have accepted. This will allow GPNRO to liaise with the other lead recruiter, if applicable, to

try and agree a mutually acceptable swap.

As applicants now have the ability to change preferences up until the upgrade deadline (see

Section 21.1 for more details), the GPNRO will only review facilitated placement requests

once the upgrade deadline has passed and offer exchanges/enhanced preferencing can no

longer be utilised. Any requests received before this date will not be reviewed. Facilitated

placements requests received after the upgrade deadline will be reviewed as soon as a

request is received. There is not a national timeline in which to review these.

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It is important that you review the relevant section in the 2018 Medical Specialty Recruitment

Applicant Handbook for details on the eligibility criteria and administrative process.

5.3 Step On, Step Off (SST) Policy

Deferment to GP ST1 training in the UK is different in each country and is detailed on the

GPNRO website.

Applicants who wish to defer will need to highlight this on their application form and will be

required to undertake the full selection process. Successful applicants will be able to defer

for up to 12 months and will be able to “bank” their accepted GP training programme.

Applicants who will require a Tier 2 Visa to undertake GP training should seek immigration

advice to ensure they are eligible for deferment.

6. Adjustments under the Equality Act 2010

All recruiters are aware of the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and in this regard,

recruiters will make reasonable adjustments to accommodate applicants at Assessment and

Selection Centres provided these are made known in advance. Applicants who require

adjustments (e.g. wheelchair access, extra time, nursing mothers) will be required to submit

supporting evidence to substantiate the required adjustment. This evidence will need to be

uploaded to Oriel via the Document Upload dashboard as “Supporting evidence” and

attached to the application form at the point of application.

Adjustments cannot be guaranteed if evidence is provided late and no adjustments can be

made on the day of the assessment.

In some instances, to satisfy requests for adjustments, it may be necessary to schedule an

Assessment/Selection Centre place at a specific time or a specific location.

7. Application process for International Medical Graduates (IMGs)

without Right of Residence

Applicants without right of residence will be able to apply in all rounds of GP recruitment.

Applicants without right of residence will not be rejected solely due to their immigration

status and, should they be successful, will be considered for an offer in this round. For these

applicants to be appointed, the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) will need to be satisfied.

It is strongly suggested that you read the 2018 Medical Specialty Recruitment Applicant

Handbook in order to familiarise yourself with the immigration information contained within.

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7.1 Tier 4 Visa Applicants

Applicants with a Tier 4 visa, currently in a UK Foundation Programme who have graduated

from a UK Medical school without a break between graduation and commencement of

Foundation Programme will be eligible for consideration and will not be required to satisfy

the Resident Labour Market Test.

8. Evidence of English Language Skills

All applicants will need to provide evidence of their English language skills at any Selection

Centre attended in line with the acceptable evidence detailed in the GP ST1 Person

Specification (2018).

8.1 Evidence of Communication Skills for Medical Performers’ List

Eligibility for entry onto a UK Medical Performers’ List is an essential criterion and therefore,

applicants must also ensure their evidence of communication skills complies with the

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or Guidance issued by the relevant Primary Care

Organisations (PCOs) responsible for maintaining a medical performers’ list in each of the

four countries.

PCOs are NHS England in England, Health and Social Services Boards in Northern Ireland,

Local Health Boards in Wales, and primary care divisions within area health boards in

Scotland.

9. Evidence of Foundation Competences

All applicants to ST1 posts are required to provide evidence of achievement of Foundation

Competence within the 3.5 years prior to the intended commencement date for the

advertised post(s). Foundation competency can be demonstrated in any of the following

ways:

• Currently on a Foundation Programme - Applicants currently undertaking a

recognised foundation programme in the UK which is due to finish in August 2018,

will need to confirm the name of their Foundation School but do not need to submit

any other evidence at the point of application. Any offer of a training programme will

be conditional upon successful completion of the Foundation Programme and being

awarded a Foundation Programme Certificate of Completion (FPCC) before August

2018. Those applying who will require a delayed start date due to illness or maternity,

will be permitted to apply and defer to allow them to complete their Foundation

Programme.

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• Already completed a Foundation Programme - Applicants who have successfully

completed a UK Foundation Programme no earlier than 1st January 2015 are

required to upload their FACD 5.2 or FPCC to their application form, at the time of

application submission.

• Currently on a Specialty Training Programme - Applicants currently in active

clinical or clinical and academic practice in a UK educationally approved training post

(CT/ST/LAT or equivalent), holding either a National Training Number (NTN) or

Deanery Reference Number (DRN) will be considered as having had their foundation

competences assessed on entry to their current post and do not need to

demonstrate these again, regardless of when foundation competences were signed

off.

Applicants in this category, who relinquish their NTN or DRN between the time of

application and commencement will be required to submit an Alternative Certificate

of Foundation Competence for the period out of training.

• Anybody who is not covered by the above - Applicants who do not fall into any of

the above categories will be required to submit an Alternative Certificate of

Foundation Competence signed by a consultant who has supervised them for at least

3 months (whole time equivalent and continuous period) since 1st January 2015.

In addition, applicants are also required to have 12 months experience after

achieving full registration with the GMC, or equivalent medical regulatory body, by

the start date for the post they are applying for.

You may submit more than one Alternative Certificate from different posts in order to show

evidence of achievement of all outcomes but all certificates must relate to posts undertaken

for at least 3 continuous months (whole time equivalent) since 1st January 2015. You should

ideally attach scanned copies of the certificate(s) to your application form, however if this is

not possible you will have until Friday 27th April 2018 to submit the completed Alternative

Certificate(s).

Please note:

• This extended period for the submission of the Alternative Certificate is applicable to GP

applicants only.

• If you are required to satisfy the Resident Labour Market Test you will have until Friday

2nd March 2018 to submit a completed Alternative Certificate in Round 1 and until

Friday 27th April 2018 in Round 1 Re-advert.

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Applicants who fail to provide an Alternative Certificate at the time of application will not be

removed from the process but any subsequent GP offer received will be conditional upon

the original document(s) being seen by the above date.

If you are not able to provide an Alternative Certificate at the time of submitting your

application then you will need to ensure you answer ‘No’ to the question regarding

achievement of foundation competences. The system will then ask you to justify why you feel

you are exempt. You will be required to provide information justifying why you believe you

will have it by the date specified above. It is strongly suggested you complete your

application form as early on as possible in the application window if this applies to you.

10. Fitness to Practise

If you answer yes to any of the Fitness to Practise questions on the application form, you will

be required to send information about this declaration to your first preference region by the

application closing date. Appropriate contact details for Fitness to Practise Declarations can

be found in Annex C of the 2018 Medical Specialty Recruitment Applicant Handbook.

Failure to provide this evidence by the application closing date will result in your application

not progressing any further in the recruitment round.

11. Accreditation of Transferable Competences Framework (ATCF)

Many core competences are common across some, but not all, specialty curricula. When

moving from one approved training programme to another, competences gained in Core,

Specialty or General Practice training should not have to be repeated if already achieved.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has developed the Accreditation of Transferable

Competences Framework (ATCF) to assist trainee doctors in transferring competences

achieved in one Core, Specialty or General Practice training programme, where appropriate

and valid, to another training programme.

Trainees who decide to change career path could transfer competences achieved in another

training programme and reduce the length of their new training programme.

The ATCF applies only to those moving between periods of GMC approved training (i.e. you

must have a valid NTN or DRN at the time of transfer) and is aimed at the early years of

training. The time to be recognised within the ATCF will need to be reviewed at the trainee’s

first Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP), if appointed.

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To qualify for ATCF, you must be transferring from one of the following approved specialty

training programmes:

• ACCS programmes

• Anaesthetics

• Emergency Medicine

• General (Internal) Medicine (Core Medical Training programme)

• General Psychiatry (Core Training in Psychiatry programme)

• Obstetrics and Gynaecology

• Paediatrics

Applicants wishing to be considered for accreditation of transferable competences should

indicate this on their application form.

Further information on the ATCF is available from COGPED website.

12. Reapplication to Specialty Training

Specialty training posts and programmes are not normally available to any doctor who has

previously relinquished or been released or removed from that training post/programme.

However:

12.1 Support for Reapplication to Specialty

If you have previously resigned or been removed from a GP training programme, you will

need to provide full details of the resignation/release/removal. This must be provided on the

Support for Reapplication to a Specialty Training Programme form and approved by both the

Head of School/Training Programme Director and Postgraduate Dean in the region where

training was previously undertaken. This evidence should be emailed to the confidential

email address of your first preference region at the point of application.

Any applications from excluded trainees without submitted evidence will not progress any

further in the recruitment process.

12.2 Support for Reapplication to Specialty Training in a Different Region

Trainees currently working in General Practice, applying to continue their training in

another region, without a break in service, will need to provide information relating

to this. You must gain support from your current region by completing the Support

for Reapplication of Specialty Training in a Different Region form. This evidence

should be emailed to your first preference region at the point of application.

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Any applications without submitted evidence will not progress any further in the

recruitment process.

13. Document Upload

As you progress through your application it may become apparent that you will be required

to upload some form of documentation to allow GPNRO to assess your eligibility.

If you are required to do this you must:

• Ensure that the document is uploaded as a single document and not in separate

pages

• Ensure that the document label describes the nature of the document

• Ensure that the document is uploaded in to the correct document section

GPNRO reserves the right to request re-submission of documentation if the above rules are

not followed.

14. Longlisting – Eligibility Requirements

All applications will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined in the national GP ST1

Person Specification (2018).

15. Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA)

All eligible applicants (i.e. those who have been assessed as demonstrating evidence of

eligibility as outlined in section 14) will be invited to attend the next stage of the recruitment

and selection process. The MSRA is a computer based assessment which forms the short-

listing process. The assessment has been fully researched and evaluated and has been shown

to have high predictive validity.

GPNRO lead on the delivery of the MSRA and has developed a separate guide which

provides GP applicants with information about the whole MSRA process (e.g. registering to

sit the test, centre locations, format of the assessment, etc.)

All applicants are expected to read this document in full to develop an understanding of this

particular stage of the recruitment process and what is expected of applicants; it is available

from the GPNRO website.

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16. Direct Pathway to Offers

All applicants who achieve a combined total score of 575 in the MSRA will qualify for a

streamlined route which does not require them to attend a face-to-face assessment at

Selection Centre. If you qualify for this route, you will be ranked first, before those who were

deemed appointable via Selection Centre, increasing your chance of receiving an offer of

training at a programme in one of your most preferred programmes/locations.

If you qualify for this direct route but are subject to the Resident Labour Market Test, you will

only be offered a post after all UK/EU/EEA applicants have been offered, including those who

underwent an assessment at Selection Centre.

17. Invitation to Selection Centre

On completion of the Multi-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA) process, applicants

who have met the minimum required standard will be considered for Selection Centre, with

the exception of those that qualify for the Direct Pathway to Offers.

Applicants who are successful at the MSRA will be able to choose where they would like to

attend Selection Centre. Applicants will be invited to attend one Selection Centre and will be

considered for appointment to programmes in all preferenced regions.

17.1 Booking a Selection Centre

If you are invited to attend a Selection Centre, you will be required to log into your Oriel

account and use the self-service functionality to the book an appointment at a centre, date

and time of your choosing, subject to availability. The only exception to this is if you have

requested a special accommodation under the Equality Act 2010; in this instance, the GPNRO

will pre-book your appointment at a Selection Centre hosted by your first preference region.

When booking your Selection Centre, it is strongly recommended that you avoid booking

from a mobile device or internet browsers that have reached the end of their product

support lifecycle as these are unlikely to be supported.

17.2 Confirmation of booking

Once you have booked your Selection Centre, you will receive an automated confirmation of

booking message in Oriel and a secondary automated message will be sent to your

registered email address. If you do not receive confirmation, log into your Oriel account to

confirm if the booking process was completed in its entirety.

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18. Selection Centre

The Selection Centre involves applicants completing a number of exercises which are

observed and assessed by trained assessors. This competency based selection process has

been researched and evaluated. We are confident that it is fair, robust and fit for purpose.

On the day of the Selection Centre, please ensure that you allow yourself plenty of time to

get to the Selection Centre venue to allow for applicant registration and evaluation of

essential entry criteria, e.g. documented proof of identity, immigration status, confirmation of

award of medical degree, foundation competences etc. Applicants can expect the Selection

Centre to last approximately 3 hours, however this can vary.

If you are booked to attend Selection Centre and are unable to attend due to unforeseen

circumstances or an emergency, you must contact the organising region directly to ascertain

whether alternative arrangements can be made. Alternative arrangements cannot be

guaranteed.

All recruiters are aware of the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 as detailed in Section 6.

Extra time is only available for the written assessment. If you feel that there are any particular

issues related to a disability need you may have, you MUST discuss these with the region

before the assessment as no adjustment can be made for any applicant afterwards.

Applicants should note that children are not permitted at Selection Centre.

Important: On arrival at Selection Centre, if you find you have a conflict of interest with a

panel member, for example you are already familiar with them and you are not comfortable in

being assessed by them; it is your responsibility to inform a member of the recruitment team at

your earliest opportunity so that alternative arrangements can be made, such as being

interviewed by a neutral panel member.

18.1 Dress Code

Recruitment and selection may involve contact with simulated patients who should be

treated as if they were patients, for clinical communication and assessment of clinical

performance. Conventionally in the UK, formal professional practice between doctors and

patients is appropriately marked by a certain formality of dress. The same dress code will

apply for selection centre as it does for day to day clinical practice/contact with patients; this

means that forms of dress should not constrain the applicants’ ability to demonstrate

recognised skills. All doctors should ensure their appearance does not impede their

professional roles and responsibilities; including communication with patients, relatives,

carers and other staff. Casual streetwear, sportswear, revealing styles such as low-cut

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necklines and mini-skirts, dangling jewellery/accessories will normally be deemed

inappropriate. Equally, forms of dress that cover the face will also be deemed inappropriate

in such consultations.

18.2 Selection Centre Format

There are no interviews and assessors do not have access to your application form, your CV

or any other biographical information.

The competences that are assessed at Selection Centre are:

• Communication Skills,

• Empathy & Sensitivity,

• Conceptual Thinking & Problem Solving,

• Professional Integrity.

Please refer to the GP ST1 Person Specification for more information about these.

There will be a briefing session at the start of your Selection Centre session and an

opportunity for questions at the end of it; this is NOT a feedback session. Feedback on your

performance will be given later and will be after the offers have been made.

18.2.1 Simulation Exercises

These will involve simulators and 3 different situations:

• A consultation with a patient

• A consultation with a relative or carer

• A consultation with a non-medical colleague.

They do not involve a physical examination and clinical expertise is not specifically assessed.

The time allowed for each is 10 minutes.

18.2.2 Written Exercise

The written exercise will require some prioritisation or ranking of issues and a justification of

your responses. The time allowed for the written exercise is 30 minutes.

All exercises will have specific and individual written instructions, with advice to spend time

reading and being familiar with the requirements of the exercise. You can download example

Selection Centre scenarios from GPNRO website.

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18.3 Preparation Hints

• Be yourself and be natural. Do NOT “act”

• Listen to and, carefully read carefully all instructions given on the day about the

exercises

• Be honest

• Trust the process which has always had excellent applicant evaluation; specifically the

evaluation says the process is fair, even from those who are not successful first time

• Practice the example scenarios with your colleagues by all means but we do NOT

recommend you book commercial courses or purchase advice and guidance books

specifically aimed at doctors undertaking the GP Selection Centre. None of the GP

assessors take part in or endorse any preparation courses or books

We understand that applicants may wish to revise and prepare for Selection Centre with each

other in small groups and would encourage this. However, sharing information about the

actual Selection Centre is unacceptable and is viewed as unprofessional behaviour.

Assessments at Selection Centre are competency based and there is published evidence

demonstrating that prior knowledge of the content and context of assessment does not

positively affect performance. We would counsel applicants against altering their behaviour

based on the advice of other applicants. We also remind applicants that entry to GP Specialty

Training is competitive.

19. Outcome following Selection Centre

All applicants will be notified of their final results on the published offers date. The offers

date can be found on the Recruitment webpage of the GPNRO website.

The results, including your final national rank will be published in your Oriel account against

your GP ST1 application as interview scores. Detailed guidance on how to locate or view

these scores is contained in the Oriel Applicant User Handbook.

19.1 Composition of Final Result

The final mark for all applicants that have undertaken GP selection is calculated by

combining results from both the MSRA and Selection Centre. To give an applicant’s final

selection score, the PD element of the MSRA and Selection Centre scores are weighted at

40% each and the CPS element of the MSRA at 20%.

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Assessment Weighting

MSRA 60%

• PD Paper 40%

• CPS Paper 20%

Selection Centre 40%

To achieve an accurately weighted final score, it is important that all results use the same

scale. Therefore, the weighted MSRA scores for the PD and CPS have to be rescaled to allow

them to be combined with Selection Centre scores.

An applicant’s final score is then calculated by combining the weighted PD, CPS and

Selection Centre scores in the agreed manner. A cut-off will be set to determine the

minimum mark an applicant needs to achieve to be deemed ‘successful at selection’.

Applicants who achieve this score or above will be ranked and offers allocated accordingly.

An applicant’s final score, their rank, and the agreed cut-off score will be provided as

feedback.

19.2 Appealing the Outcome

The outcome is final and cannot be reviewed, re-marked or disputed. There is no appeals

process.

If you feel your application has not been managed correctly and have evidence of a failure in

the process, there is a national complaints policy and procedure. You should explore this

route if you have any concerns about your application. A copy of the policy can be located in

the GPRNO Resource Bank.

20. Offers

All offers will be made via Oriel by GPNRO. Offers received in any other way will be deemed

invalid. If you are made an offer, you will need to respond to this on Oriel.

Applicants will be ranked in a single national list based on their performance throughout the

selection processes. Applicants who qualified for Direct Pathway to Offers will be ranked first,

above those who were deemed appointable via the Selection Centre. Offers are made in rank

order based on this national ranking.

Initial offers will be released by close of business on the first offer date published for the

current round (see the GPNRO website). Please do not contact GPNRO about offers prior to

this date, as it could delay the release.

You will be given 48 hours (exclusive of weekends) to respond to an offer and you have the

option to accept, decline or hold. Only one offer can be held at any one time, across all

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specialty applications in a given round. If you fail to respond to an offer within the 48-hour

window you will be deemed to have declined the offer.

If you are holding an offer and try to hold another, the original held post will be

automatically declined on your behalf by Oriel.

Once you have accepted a post, you will not receive any further offers from any other

specialty in this round (i.e. Oriel will automatically withdraw you from all other applications

you have in the given recruitment round).

Offers that are declined will be reoffered in rank order to other applicants.

If you choose to hold an offer, you can keep this offer held up until the hold deadline

published for the current round (see the GPNRO website). Before this deadline, you will be

required to go back into Oriel and make a final decision on the offer. Any offers still held

when the deadline is reached will be deemed to have been declined and the system will

automatically change your status to show that you have declined the post.

After the hold deadline has passed, any offers made will only have the option of accept or

decline.

Please note:

• Applicants whose immigration status would require an employer to obtain a Certificate

of Sponsorship can only be made an offer if there are no remaining suitable UK/EEA

applicants.

• Applicants who let their offer expire (and are withdrawn from the recruitment process)

can be reinstated if they contact the GPNRO; however, their original offer cannot and

will not be guaranteed.

21. Upgrading Offers

If you rank highly enough to be made an offer, this will be made to the highest ranked

Training Programme preference that is available when your final rank is reached. If this

Training Programme offer is suitable for you and you do not want to be considered for any

other preferences you have ranked higher, you can choose to simply accept it.

However, applicants do have the option of getting one of their higher ranked GP Training

programme preferences, should they become available, by opting into upgrading. The

upgrading option is available to all offers that have been held or accepted, but not where an

offer has been declined. An applicant who has accepted or held an offer can opt in or out of

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upgrading at any time during the window which runs until the upgrade deadline published

for the current round (see the GPNRO website). Please be aware that due to the ranking of

your GP Training Programme preferences you may move into a different region if you are

upgraded.

If you opt into upgrades and a higher preferenced offer becomes available, the upgrade will

be automatic. You will be placed in the higher preferenced post and an automated message

will be sent to you Oriel informing you of the upgrade; you will not be given 48 hours to

decide whether you wish to accept or decline the upgrade. If an upgrade is made, the

previously held or accepted post will be released and will be reoffered to another applicant.

Once you have been upgraded you will be sent an automated message through Oriel to

inform you of this. Details of the upgrade made will be available in the relevant section on

Oriel.

Once the upgrading deadline has passed, no further upgrades will be offered, even if a more

preferred GP Training Programme becomes available at a later date.

21.1 Offer Exchanges/Enhanced Preferences

Applicants can have a change in circumstances for any number of reasons in the time

between programme preferences being made and offers being released. To assist applicants

in this situation, flexibility around preferencing has been introduced for 2018 recruitment.

For applicants who have accepted or held a post, there will be an option to select upgrade

options which not only include those programmes that were originally ranked higher than

the offered post, but also those that were ranked lower.

Please note: Any changes to preferences made between the offers algorithm being run and

offers being released will not be considered until the next offers match is run.

Applicants who have not been made an offer may also have a change in circumstances that

requires them to make amendments to their expressed preferences. GPNRO will keep their

programme preferencing open throughout the recruitment process, however this will be

temporarily disabled before each offer algorithm is run, until the offers have been released.

These processes will continue up until the upgrading deadline in each recruitment round

(see the GPNRO website).

More detailed guidance on this process is contained in the Oriel Applicant User Handbook.

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22. References

Referees should be contacted at the earliest opportunity to confirm that they are happy to

support the application and provide a reference. You are required to give details of your last

three clinical or educational supervisors from your current post, your previous post and the

post before that.

All offers made will be on the condition of the offered region receiving three satisfactory

references. Obtaining references is an applicant’s responsibility. The offered region will NOT

chase your referees.

22.1 Reference Requests

Reference requests are an automated process in Oriel. A request will be triggered and sent

electronically to your nominated referees when you accept or, accept with upgrades an offer

of GP training. To ensure that the requests are not blocked or filtered by your referees’ email

providers you are strongly advised to inform your referees to add noreply@oriel.nhs.uk to

their email whitelist.

22.2 Completing a Reference

Referees are required to submit references electronically, using the online referee portal in

Oriel. You will be advised, via your Oriel portal, when your referee has submitted a reference.

In rare cases there may be a need for your reference to be provided on paper. We will

instruct you if this is necessary. You can download a Structured National Reference Form

from the Oriel Resource Bank and you will need to ask the affected referee to return the

completed form directly to the offered region.

22.3 Changing Your Nominated Referee

For any references that have not yet been submitted you are able to update the details of or,

change your, nominated referees. However, if a referee has already submitted your reference,

you will not be able to make any changes to their details.

If you change the email address against a referee, a new reference request will be sent to the

newly provided email address, and the original request will be withdrawn.

23. Further Preferencing within Offered Training Programme

Once you have accepted an offer of training at a region and the upgrade deadline has

passed, you will be asked, by the offered region, to indicate your preferred geography

and/or rotational posts from those that are available within the Training Programme that you

have accepted.

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Information regarding these further preferences will be published on individual region

websites.

The GPNRO does not have any involvement in this process. Any queries relating to this

should be sent to the region where the training offer was received.

23.1 Allocation of Trainees within Local Training Programmes

Once offered a Training Programme within a region it is expected that further preferences

will be based on individual ranking and achievement over the exercises involved in the

selection process, i.e. higher performing applicants are offered a higher preference from the

pool of local placements/rotations on offer.

There is, however, a risk associated with the lower level of allocations to programme level if

done purely by choice. Therefore, each region has developed its own allocation policy to

mitigate risk. You should visit the website of the relevant region for further information on

this.

24. Clearing

Using the Single Transferable Score model in GP recruitment means there will be no option

for clearing. Therefore, if you do not receive an offer in this round of recruitment it will be for

one of two reasons:

1. Every one of your GP Training Programme preferences are accepted before your rank

is reached (this could happen even if you are considered appointable in the process).

2. You were unsuccessful at a certain part of the recruitment process (you will be

notified if this is the case).

25. Feedback

Applicants will be given feedback throughout the recruitment process and will not need to

make a formal request to receive it.

Applicants that are rejected at the longlisting stage will be advised of the reason why their

application was rejected. Applicants that are rejected following MSRA will be advised of their

total scores, and the scores needed to be invited to Selection Centre. Selection Centre

feedback will be released within seven days after the initial offer date.

Applicants who wish to request feedback above and beyond the standard feedback that is

provided (i.e. their actual score sheets) can do so by making a request to the GPNRO.

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GPNRO expect the score sheets to be sent back to applicants within 20 working days

however applicants must understand that in busy periods this could take longer to receive.

There is no further feedback that can be provided after score sheets have been requested.

26. Offers of Employment & Pre-Employment Checks

The offer and allocation of a Training Programme referred to above is NOT an offer of

employment. An employment contract detailing the terms and conditions of employment

will be issued by the responsible employing organisation and is made subject to satisfactory

pre-employment checks. Your offer of employment will include the name of your employer,

the start date and length of the period of employment, the location, the hours, the minimum

rate of remuneration and the notice period applicable.

Information regarding pay, hours, sick pay and annual leave entitlements, notice period,

study leave, pension scheme etc. are set out in the national terms and conditions available

from NHS Employers. A framework for a written contract of employment for GP specialty

registrars is also available from the BMA. Individual region websites may also provide

additional local information and links to individual employer websites.

The employing organisation carry out a number of pre-employment checks before an offer

of employment can be confirmed. These will include verification of identity, registration and

qualifications, right to work (immigration), employment history and employment reference

checks (these are different from the clinical reference checks that the region needs), a

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and an occupational health check. Some of these

(verification of identify, registration and qualifications and right to work for example) may

also be undertaken by the region during the recruitment process.

27. Applicant Interview Expenses

Any claims for expenses incurred in travelling to a Selection Centre should be made to the

region that interviewed you, not the GPNRO. This should normally be a venue close to your

residence or place of work. You will be expected to explain why this is not the case if you

appear to have excessive expenses.

Please contact the organising region for further guidance on their expenses policy.